By Guillermo Azábal
Tel Aviv, Apr 3 (EFE).- An abandoned parking lot in one of south Tel Aviv’s poorest neighborhoods has become an improvised air-raid shelter for dozens of low-income migrants and asylum seekers, who fear their fragile homes offer little protection from missile attacks linked to the war with Iran.
Dozens of residents, mainly low-income migrants, asylum seekers and undocumented foreign workers, spend their days there, fearing that missiles could strike their homes, which are often made of flimsy materials and lack bomb shelters.
«We are afraid of Iranian ballistic missiles and cluster munitions… When I hear the alarms at home, I feel like a rat. I don’t think I’d have anywhere to hide,» Jeny Bautista, a 56-year-old Filipino woman, told EFE.
Bautista spoke from the bunker located inside the parking lot of a shopping mall attached to the Tel Aviv central bus station, in an area often referred to as «Little Africa.»
The shopping center, inaugurated in 1993, fell into decline in the 2000s.
According to the Tel Aviv municipality, pollution from dozens of buses operating on the building’s upper and lower floors made commercial activity on its central levels unsustainable.
«It doesn’t matter if there are rats outside»
«We don’t care about the situation outside. What matters is that we are very safe. It doesn’t matter if there are very large rats outside, if it’s not clean, or if there are many homeless people. Inside it’s very pleasant,» said Rose Embae, 45, also from the Philippines and mother of two children aged 2 and 3.
The bunker, protected by a large steel gate, contrasts sharply with the darkness, dirt, and smell of urine in the surrounding parking lot.
According to Tel Aviv municipal officials, who have renovated the reinforced room in recent months, up to 500 people spend the night there every day, many in tents set up along stretches of synthetic grass.
A bunker for «Jews, Arabs, and refugees»
Equal access to shelters has been a controversial issue in Israel during this conflict, as in previous ones.
According to the Israeli NGO Abraham Initiatives, which promotes equality between Jewish and Arab citizens, only 37 of Israel’s 11,776 public shelters are located in Arab-majority cities, excluding mixed localities.
Joseph Cohen, a Tel Aviv municipal employee helping manage the Neve Shaanan shelter, pointed to a sign reading. «This shelter is for everyone: Jews, Arabs, and refugees.»
Cohen said most users come from countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, India, Sudan, Eritrea, and Colombia, regardless of their legal status.
Undocumented foreigners, the most vulnerable
While users publicly thank Israeli authorities for access to the shelter, many privately say they would like to see more public shelters in low-income neighborhoods and greater efforts to regularize long-term migrant workers.
According to Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, around 116,000 foreign workers have arrived since Oct. 7, 2023, after the government revoked permits for a similar number of Palestinian workers.
By the end of 2025, the total number of foreign workers in Israel stood at around 227,000. Israeli media estimates suggest that between 20% and 40% may be working irregularly.
«Without permission» to seek shelter
The NGO Kav LaOved, which advocates for vulnerable workers’ rights, has long warned about the risks faced by undocumented migrants.
The group says that in border areas near Lebanon, where migrants often work in agriculture or construction, some employers do not allow workers to leave their jobs to seek shelter during attacks.
«They do not have the freedom or permission to go to a shelter. They are repeatedly told that they have come to work, and many must continue their duties even in areas that, at other times, were evacuated for safety reasons. This is illegal,» Shyni Babu, a volunteer with Kav LaOved, told EFE. EFE
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